This was an unexpected find - for me at least. Two of three Class 56 "Grids" in store at Bescot
VFLI (Voies Ferrées Locales et Industrielles) is a train operating company based in France. It is a subsidiary of SNCF. The company was formed in 1998 as a low cost short line and industrial railway operator. The subsidiary Fertis operated construction trains on the LGV Est up to 2007.
VFLI was created in 1998 as a subsidiary of the holding company SNCF participations to operate as a low cost operation, initially the company took over the operations of two industrial railway systems: Voies Ferrées des Landes (VFL) and Mines Dominiales de Potasse d'Alsace. In 2000 the company began a joint venture with Compagnie des chemins de fer départementaux (CFD) called Voies Ferrées du Morvan to operate the 87km Avallon-Autun railway line,[1] and in 2001 took over operations on the Houllières du Bassin de Lorraine (HBL) via a subsidiary 'VFLI Cargo. Up to 2007 the company was involved in the construction of LGV Est through the subsidiary Fertis. In 2007 the company gained certification to operate on the main French rail network. By 2008 the company was providing services for around forty industrial sites, with clients having included Rhodia, Arkema, Arcelor, Renault and Coke de Carling, Ciments français, Lafarge, Elf, Port Edouard Herriot (Lyon), ALZ, Smurfit SCF in Facture and PSA (in Trnava, Slovakia), other contracts included transport of combustion waste from Protires waste processing plant in Strasbourg, work sub-contracted from SNCF and transportation from ports.
Rolling stock and facilities
In 2010 VFLI owned ~100 diesel locomotives, mostly shunting and short trip locomotives as well as ~800 wagons. The company also operates rolling stock workshops, carrying out maintenance and refurbishment.